More whistle-blower protection: Madonsela

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela wants whistle-blowers to have more protection.

And she said that managers to whom information was given sometimes lacked the integrity to act upon it.

She suggested that an amendment was needed to the Protected Disclosures Act for whistle-blowers to be better protected in their institutions.

She revealed that investigations of the alleged R206 million spent on President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home were “moving at high speed” and the report would be concluded by March 31.

The public protector said she was not having sleepless nights about an investigation by the National Assembly’s justice committee of the handling of cases by her office.

Madonsela’s comments on whistle-blowers come after her office reinstated a Department of Justice employee earlier this year after she was dismissed for blowing the whistle on corrupt practices by her colleagues.

Madonsela was speaking to reporters at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Howard College campus, where she attended the launch of the book An African Journey Towards Good Governance: The History of the African Ombudsman and Mediators Association.

“The Protected Disclosures Act needs to be amended… because at the moment you can disclose to anyone in a leadership position and you do not know how much integrity that person has,” she said.

Madonsela suggested that a sole person be appointed to deal with whistle-blowers, so that it would be easy to ascertain who was responsible for the harsh treatment of people like the Justice Department employee, known as Mrs M, who was victimised before being fired.